


Things that you wish didn't happen when your at the Hospital

by Ris84



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Drabble, Gen, I'm Sorry, My First Fanfic, Silly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-26
Updated: 2014-03-03
Packaged: 2018-01-13 19:39:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1238482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ris84/pseuds/Ris84
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Where Felicity's Milkshake brings all the boys to the yard. Or something like that. AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hospital situations

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there, this is my first published fanfic. I've had a few ideas in this 'world' I created in my mind. Its un-beta'd (which I'm sure you'll notice when you read it). I'd appreciate any and all feedback.

John Diggle walked with a purpose down the hospital hallway. He had received a call from Quentin Lance twenty minutes ago to let him know that Felicity Smoak had been in a car accident. He had dropped off Oliver at the front entrance before heading down to the parking lot to leave the vehicle.

As he approached the room number that Lance had given him he could hear voices, many male voices. All sounding upset. He slowed down when he heard Oliver’s voice.

“Wait. Felicity?” Oliver said, “Who are these people?”

“Her husband” they nearly all said in unison.

John’s eyes widened and his eyebrows raised slightly, he took a couple more steps forward, and barely peaked into the room. There he saw four men, including Oliver surrounding Felicity’s bed. Two stood to her right, one to her left and Oliver stood at the foot of the bed. He couldn’t see Oliver’s face, but he could see how Oliver’s already tense body, got even more tense from that response.  
All the men were tall, and he supposed, good looking. Two of them looked slightly familiar.

“Ex-Husbands” Felicity corrected.

John’s eyebrows raised further. He was seriously running out of forehead here.

Felicity sighed “Oliver, meet my first husband - James Blatt, yes - he plays for the Metropolis Mammoths. We got married at 18, divorced by 20. I couldn’t cope with competing with the puck bunnies” she gestured to the tall, red head man on her right, who’s shoulder span appeared to be wider than John’s own. 

James smiled and put his hand on her shoulder for a brief moment “There was no competition. I just stopped understanding what you were saying, babe” he looked around “Lissy was always fifteen steps ahead of me”

Moving her eyes to the slightly shorter, slimmer man beside James, she then said “My second husband - Kevin Farmer, the youngest Professor at MIT, we got married when I was 21, divorced a year later after he cheated on me with my own TA.” she shrugged “No hard feelings, it was probably for the best. I hated those stuffy cocktail parties with the other professors, who were in their mid-fifties”

Kevin looked down, frowning slightly “Genius I may be, but smart I’ll never be”

She turned her head to the left, a little quickly, wincing and raised her hand to her neck “Ouch. Too fast.” she sighed again. John didn’t know Felicity to make that sound as much as she had in the last few moments. Mind you, he also didn’t know that she was married three times.

“And Oliver, I think you remember Bruce Wayne. You went to one private school together, right? We got divorced last year, just before you and I met.” she cut Bruce with a sharp look, “Not a word out of you. At all”

“Why are they all here?” Oliver asked.

“I’m still listed as her Emergency contact” James answered. “I got the call, I was practicing the next town over”

“Me too” Kevin said. “I got the call, I was in town on a conference”

“Her brother called me from Germany. I suppose he’s her third emergency contact.” Bruce said with a wry smile “I was in the jet, en route to Coast City, but forced an emergency landing”

It was that moment that John truly looked at Felicity. Her leg was in a cast, bruising clear around her neck and a lump on her forehead.

“How did this,” James asked gesturing to her body “all happen?”

“Car hit me on the passenger side, I was surprised, spilled my milkshake and then jumped, which made me press on the gas, and hit the telephone poll.” Felicity quickly responded, “But I’m fine. So you all can leave. Seriously. And I promise, I’ll update my emergency records. I swear, I didn't even think about it before. But now? Now I’ll definitely be changing it, because this is a combination of my best fantasy and worse nightmare.”

John chuckled at her response. Backing up. He’d check on her in about half an hour Once her husbands. In the meantime, he’d get a coffee, and wait for that very very uncomfortable situation to die down.


	2. Crutches and casts slow you down.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity does not like this prank.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update - edited to correct mistakes. Sorry, I found a few typos.
> 
> Hi again. I'm forcing myself to come out of my shell. I figure if I don't have people throwing stones, flaming, or telling me I should just stick to reading this stuff, that I'll continue. I may just actually post my serious stories.

Felicity was stumped.  She knows how to lock them in, change someone's credit ratings, rearrange meetings so that their day is painful, heck she even figured out how to screw with the water line and tap it into the beer so that everyone's beer tasted horrible but they didn't know why.

But when her opponent had super strength that no door or lock can withstand,  no care about their credit rating since they've lived in the slums their entire life, worked in a bar their girlfriend ran, and didn't drink coffee.  Well, it left her stumped.

But every ringtone.  Every alarm. And several voicemails she got played the same song.                                               
                                                                
She slowly made her way into the club. Forced to use the main entrance due to her crutches.  She gave a small smile to the bouncer who arrived early and opened the door for her. She typically used the back entrance but the fire retardant door was too heavy for her to open whilst balancing herself on crutches and loaded with her personal electronics. 

She made her way across the dance floor.  Clubs in the day time light always sermed strange to her -hollow almost. At night it was filled with so much energy. But the daytime was like looking over at that one night stand that you really, really regret. Don't lie, you know that cotton mouth, head throbbing pain you wake up with. Then that feeling of dread when you realize that warmth isn't a hot water bag, but a person. That 'oh fuck this sucks' feeling is the kind of feeling Felicity gets when she's entered the empty club. 

She was halfway across the dance floor when it happened.

My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard,  
And they're like  
It's better than yours,  
Damn right it's better than yours,  
I can teach you,  
But I have to charge

That song, once upon a time had good feelings. Good memories of sharing wine with friends while they did their nails. She made it to the DJ booth glaring at the offender.  He'd been doing this to her for the last two weeks since he heard from John about how Oliver met her ex's.

He hopped down from behind the booth. Flashed her a smile that should have made her melt. The one that made you wonder, really,  what would James Dean look like if he was smiling.

But she wasn't melting.   She was glaring. Thinking of making suggestions to his girlfriend of activites that he'd hate. Like a couples massage. Or a nature retreat. Her brother wasn't anywhere near as annoying as this.

"Sorry" he said,  still smiling.  "Just doing a sound check"

She glared again - walked over to the door, entered in her code and walked onto the platform.  
The door shut behind her. She exhaled deeply.  It was blissfully quiet here. Thanl gooodness. Then she heard a beep followed by the most irritating sound ever.

La la-la la la,  
Warm it up.  
Lala-lalala,  
The boys are waiting.

Thats it, the minute the cast was off, she was going to decapitate him.


	3. A slightly serious interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Somewhat serious thoughts and words

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi All - I figured I'd work in the real plot I was thinking about for this. I don't have anyone editing or helping me with this, so any feedback would be appreciated :)

It was three weeks since she was released from hospital. She'd been in pain. She'd been frustrated. She'd been coddled. She'd been broken.  
She sat on her seat at her desk at Queen Consolidated. Ignoring her personal smartphone as it blinked every few minutes, advising her of a new message. It was Bruce. Again.  
She'd been off his radar for a little under a year. The calls, emails, dinners and *ahem* nights over had drifted off. But since the accident, since her brother called him in a panic realizing that he was too far away to respond, Bruce had renewed his interest in her. Phone calls, text messages, flowers, Bruce had a bit of a rhythm that he liked to keep to. But that bothered her. Bruce Wayne had a tendency to be so protective it was stifling.

It was also flattering. Bruce had a way of making her feel like she was the best thing since sliced bread. Mind you, he could make everyone feel that way. He could make her feel like a princess, even when she looked like poor copy of Bjork.

But she'd moved on. A long time ago. It was...mutual. At least thats what she always told herself it was.

For a very brief moment she thought she moved onto Oliver. But she quickly realized that she was blurring the lines between a friendship type of love to a romantic type of love. When they'd gone to Lian Yu and brought him back to Starling City, she really thought that she wanted Oliver. Physically she could say, without a doubt, that she still wanted Oliver. But really? Who doesn't? It is unfair how physically attractive he was.

She evaluated the situation, though, and came up with the conclusion that she didn't care for Oliver that way. And she was happy she did come to that conclusion, as short time later, while in Russia, Oliver showed her just where he felt her place to be in his life. Oliver deserved a great love story, no matter who it was with. And she told him that when they returned home. He gave her some line, about caring for someone properly. She only half listened because, at the time, all she could hear was him showing her how he could, yet again, punish himself.  
She realized long afterwards that he was possibly letting her down softly. Felicity was independent. She could face this world on her own. She didn't need Oliver. She didn't need any man. She didn't want one either.

Then she met Barry Allen.  
It'd been years, since her relationship with Kevin since she found herself mentally and then physically attracted to a man. Kevin was 14 years her senior and everyone scoffed at the 35 year old man marrying the 21 year old student. Outsiders thought it was all about the physical relationship. And while, that had been nice. Like really, really nice. Like, yes, we broke two dorm room beds nice. Two. Dorm. Room. Beds. Those things were older than her grandfather and solid wood. It wasn't about the physical side at all.

Kevin wasn't actually her professor, but did teach at MIT. They met one day when the network at the library had failed and she was unable to send a document to the network printer. She was in a rush, and couldn’t bother asking if she could troubleshoot the issue. Luckily her RA was also a TA, and was able to let her use a printer that belonged to one of the Faculty Members. Kevin had stopped by to see the other professor, but found her. He was handsome, with his short cropped dark hair, slim build, and easy smile. Kevin had reveled in her 'pure love' as he put it. But Felicity had Daddy Issues. She knew it. Recognized it very early on. And Kevin had fit the role of a perfect mate. The maturity. The intelligence. The fact that he was able to be an excellent husband to her, father to his son Ronny, and professionally successful. But then tragedy struck them. And together they didn't know how to cope. But apart? Apart they both flourished.  
By the time she found out he was cheating, she'd mentally moved on and was grateful for the excuse to end the relationship. Kevin was also relieved that they could end it.

Barry ticked those same boxes that Kevin did. And it was part of the reason why she was so, reluctant, to move into anything with him. She wasn't up to making the same mistake twice.  
Not that she was really given the chance - Barry still laid asleep in Central City. Who knows what condition he would be in once he woke up. She refused to research how the brain copes when in a coma. She'd drive herself crazy if she did.

So right now, she was sitting at her desk. Waiting for a conference call with Walter's EA so that they could set up a lunch date between Oliver and Walter. She was hoping to convince Betty to book have them eat at the restaurant just across from the QC Headquarters as it would give her an opportunity to see Walter when he would come and meet Oliver. Despite his recent choice to lie to her he was still a really good person.

Her phone buzzed again. She gritted her teeth, picked up the phone and dropped it in her purse that sat in her desk drawer. She let out a deep exhale. And returned to the expense report she was doing, and glace at the news feed on the side panel of her screen.

Her position both at QC and in the basement of Verdant had changed over the months.

Before Oliver came back, she was an IT Analyst, who was also given the duties of supporting the higher level executives. But then Oliver decided that giving her a job as an EA was going to be the best way to keep them together without people noticing. She inwardly scoffed, oh people noticed. Her prior team members in IT still looked at her with disgust when she saw them in the lobby.  
Once they restarted the Arrow mission her position of 'top tech girl' became 'co-top tech girl' with the introduction of Sara. Sara showed just how adept she was at hacking, researching - and well, being a 'better version of Felicity'. Just without the terrible babbling and ability to make everyone feel extremely uncomfortable with the foot in mouth issues she had. She had no problem with Sara, and it was good to have a second person to shoulder the weight of her role as the person who could help with technical issues.

What she couldn't handle was the looks. The looks that Sara, Diggle, Barry and Oliver gave her.  
Like she was a kicked puppy, or something.

There was no actual discussion about Oliver and Sara but their body language gave it away. At first Oliver seemed hesitant to let it out. Although the looks that they all gave her confirmed it. Felicity considered playing up the wounded card, just for a good laugh - or maybe convince Oliver to buy that 3D Printer. It didn't bother her, per se, other than the fact that it was that moment that she realized that Oliver's speech about caring about people, was really just directed at caring about her. That stung her ego, majorly. Did he think she was so damsel in distress that she couldn't handle something with him?

But she was broken. If she was honest with herself, she was broken mentally, and now physically physically. And in no way, shape or form, in any position to want a relationship with anyone.

Sure she kept up the babbling. Sometimes forced babbling, sometimes her mouth truly did run off with her. The incessant need to push, everyone, to be their best. She prodded Diggle, when he appeared to attempt to retract into his shell, holding on to dark memories of his brother. She realized that playing up the 'cute' card with Sara helped Sara relax around her. She knew how to speak to Oliver, make him uncomfortable. They'd yell at each other, glare, but in the end she'd get what she wanted.

Not that she'd done that recently. In fact the last time she did it was a good five or six weeks ago, after she returned from Central City. Then Sara arrived and whatever happened with the two of them, happened. And Oliver did his best to not 'engage' with her for a couple of weeks.

She'd been stress eating. She stopped for a couple of days after she was shot, partially because whatever the heck Diggle gave her made her stomach hurt if she ate too much, but then started back again.

That day, it was her third milkshake. She supposed the powers that be were telling her to stop when that car hit hers. She was so shocked she knocked over the milkshake. Milk is a bitch of an item to clean out of carpet. She swore, jumped a little and then -accidentally, pressed on the accelerator. She passed out after that.

She had awoken a good thirty minutes before Oliver arrived and found all three men in her room. She begged them to leave. Knowing that the Arrow team would arrive at some point. But they refused. All of them.

She had a type - and that type was overbearing.

The three men all knew of each other, and had met, on one occasion or another. Felicity was one of those people who could remain friends with her ex's. That day they were all upset with her. 'You're still driving that stupid beetle?' one shouted at her. "Why am I not one of the emergency contacts?!" said another. "What were you doing in the Glades?!' the other shouted.

Then Oliver arrived. It was her nightmare. She knew how it looked. How it sounded. she'd bounced from her first love - turned NHL player husband, to a professor, to a billionaire playboy. It made her sound flighty. 

But while each relationship had serious flaws, she wouldn't have traded her experiences or times with any of them for a moment. These men, helped shape her into the person that she was today.

Her desk phone rang. She pressed the button on her ear phone "Queen Consolidated, Mr. Queen's Office" she said.

It was Betty, Walter's EA from the bank. Yes, he was fine with next Monday. Yes, he liked the restaurant across the road from QC. Perfect. Booked. Moving on.

She disconnected the call and glanced up. Oliver was watching her. Again. This was her first week back officially in the office. And he'd been staring at her all day. It was unnerving. Annoying. Worrisome. Typically, she would get up. Hand him something to sign - because there was always something for him to sign, and start talking until he finally spoke, usually to stop her from babbling. But occasionally to fess up on why he was watching her.

But she wasn't going to do that. The floors in the CEO office of QC were not made for her footwear. And frankly when she realized that she'd boxed away all her flats save for her trusty Panda flats and a pair of runners, she was not a happy camper. Stuck wearing the panda flats day in and out took out the fun aspect of wearing them.

Oliver's hand hovered over the phone, typically he used it when he had other people watching him, and needed to keep up the 'fake' relationship they had as boss/employee. His mouth opened. Then closed. Then re-opened.

Her phone buzzed again, a strange vibrating sound eminated from her desk drawer caused by the sound of her phone connecting with the metal of her drawer . Seriously, if she didn't love that phone, she wouldn't be sorry to see it flushed down an industrial toilet.  
Her head was down, as she opened her drawer. Saw that it was Bruce, yet again, that had messaged her. And turned her phone on mute. Hopefully no one needed to get to her for the next six hours. Closing her drawer she looked up and found Oliver standing right infront of her.

She jumped and held a hand to her chest. "Oliver. My god, you scared the pants right off me. Not that I'm wearing pants, because, well, casts suck. And not that you'd want my pants off me. Because, really? How can I sit at my desk without my bottoms on? Bottom's a strange word. It's like when people ask for cheese on their burger. It sounds fine, right? But the minute you say 'I want coagulated milk product on my bovine' that sounds weird, right? But thats what it is. Bottom is like -"

"Felicity" He interuppted her, which is good, because while the bovine/coagulated milk question was something that did bother her, but she knew others didn't care.

"Can you order lunch for both of us? I'm going to need your help with some documents that came in from the IT Department about spending money on upgrading the existing Servers at our New Jersey location or just following the local recommendation of minor fixes. I'd like to be prepared before I speak with the Chief Technology Officer."

She could do that. "Sure. I can do that" she said.

Salads were bought from that stupid salad place, typically you have to send them an email before 10AM if you want to have it ready to be delivered on time. Or you can face the wrath of a 35 minute line up. For a salad. Sure it was a good salad. Perfect tasting, really. You know the kind, the ones that make you think you're doing it right for yourself, but then when you find out, you've eaten the equivalent to two Big Macs. And without the fun of actually eating Big Macs. Mind you. The salads still tasted good. And Oliver liked them. Well, he liked one of them. Just one, with specific instructions on what to omit and what to have extra of in it.  
You'd think after 5 years on an island someone wouldn’t be picky. But he is picky. Super picky.

She placed the order on the phone, asking for their regular order. Then called down to another EA, Debra, she knew who made a run to the restaurant every day, and asked her to collect it for her.

EA's were a strange world. They held more power than others knew. She learned to respect those who chose this profession - having to deal with the pressures of their bosses role and the pressures of dealing with their bosses personalities made her realize that some people were made of teflon. Or had secret drinking problems.

The food was delivered, Debra smiled as she lifted one of the brown bags that she held up a little higher and tilted her head to Oliver’s door. Felicity nodded her head, giving her permission to knock and enter the office.

Debra smiled again a brief moment later as she left the area, headed for the elevators.

Felicity placed her tablet into her purse, and slung it around her neck so that she could bring it into Oliver’s office easily, grabbed her crutches and made her way over to his office door. Pushing open the door, she could see Oliver with his head bent down fingers squeezing the top of his nose, as he cradled the phone on his right shoulder. She sat down at his smaller meeting table, taking out her tablet, placing it on the table as she watched him. 

“Thats fine Isabel. As long as you think the viability of placing forward that version of the product, go ahead. But remember that the cost is increased by seven percent with the one you want to go with. We’d have to have a sufficient increase in sales that you can guarantee in order to make it as successful as version six. I’m not going to have you pin this failure of an idea on me. Its why I ensured that a copy of the minutes of the last meeting we had, and a copy of our email chain, discussing the lack of merit version seven point one b has been delivered to all the board members” he paused as Isabel responded “That’s great Isabel. I look forward to your formal acceptance of seven point one h via email. Once you do so, I will instruct Mark to make the proper documentation up so that we can begin production”

He hung up the phone and looked at her again. His face looked tired. He had his sad face up, that one where his eyes and his mouth turn down - just ever so slightly. Like a forlorn model.

He stands, buttons up his jacket, walks over to me, and unbuttons it as he sits down. Why do men who wear suit jackets do that? James, her first husband, never did that. But he always looked as uncomfortable as he felt in a suit jacket. Usually it was reserved for the days that he would have to meet with the corporate side of being on the Metropolis Mammoths. Kevin was more of a sweater or sport jacket kind of guy. Academia didn’t have a full requirement on what you were suppose to wear.  
Bruce did it all the time. Getting out of the car? Button up jacket. Sitting down at the table at the restaurant, unbutton. It was silly. She didn’t have to readjust her bra strap for every movement, what was with the buttoning?

She unpacked their lunches from the paper bag, sliding his lunch over, along with a plastic fork and started to open hers. “So, lets take a look at what you’re having difficulty understanding?” she asked.

They spent a few moments pouring over the documentation. Felicity suggested that the upgrade was required due to the age of the current system and the fact that the New Jersey area offices had five system failures within twelve months was unacceptable. Patchwork clearly wasn't doing the job.

They then ate in silence, with Oliver staring at her again. 

“What Oliver?” she asked.”What is your deal?”

He opened his mouth, full of food. Classy. Closed it, chewed, swallowed and took a sip from a water bottle.

“When” he said, his voice sounded a little strange, sort of like he had a cold “When I ran my check on you. I didn’t know you were married. Ever. How is it I didn’t find any of that information on you?”

Ah, paranoid face came up. He was worried. Well she figured this conversation was going to happen at some point. She pushed my salad around. Looking into the bowl, she answered him.

“Bruce. That's how." She answered. He gave her a look that told her it wasn't enough information, "When I was seventeen, just before I became an adult, my mom had me change my name from Smoak to Cohen. Her maiden name. I didn’t like it, but I understood that she wanted to make me enter adulthood under her family name and not my dad’s. Because he wasn’t that great of a dad with leaving, and all that. James and I met when I was sixteen and he was nineteen, but we were in the same grade. I was pushed up one grade and the school held him back when he was in the third grade because he had an accident that put him out of school for too long in the school year. Anyways, I was his tutor. We started dating -a couple years later a Canadian minor league signed him. We were so happy - went to Vegas to celebrate with a couple of fake ID's. Got drunk. Got married by a man in dressed as Elmo. Woke up a couple of days later and thought it marriage wasn't that bad of an idea. So we did it for real. Rather than assume his name, I actually changed it. Legally - I wasn't a fan of taking on my mothers last name. We had so many changes!he was hours away. And I was at MIT. Stress got to both of us. I honestly couldn't deal. And I'm not above being jealous - which I was. Green isn't my colour? You know. But I also can't keep my mouth shut. We fought. All the time. James is catholic, despite the last name Blatt, and didn't want to get divorced. So we got it annulled. I kept his last name. Met Kevin. Fell in love. Hard. We had some difficulty. Got divorced. I went back to James last name. I got an internship at Power Industries in Gotham. Met Bruce. Who swept me away, I suppose. I was a little reluctant at marriage the last time. But we tried it. It failed. When we got divorced Bruce fixed up my records - hide the divorce so that it doesn't make me sound so fickle. However Felicity Cohen was a busy little bee. He put me in touch with Walter. Who put me in touch with the director in the IT Support team. I took the first job offered to me, moved here, changed my name back to Smoak and realized that love isn't for everyone"

She exhaled. Looked up. He was staring at her. Blank faced. Like he was keeping in his reaction.

"I'm not some criminal mastermind. Bent on ruining our team. I love what I'm a part of and-"

"You didn't-" Oliver exclaimed, his cheeks were turning a little red, this was going to be another argument "you didn't trust us. You didn't trust me enough to share all of this. You had to have it dragged-" he paused, extending the last word out. "I wouldn't have found out if you weren't in the hospital that day"

"My past personal relationships, Oliver Queen" Felicity said, stabbing at her food with every word "Are no ones business but mine and the people I was with. And hello? Pot calling kettle. You only tell us things as they come up, too. We'll it just came up."

Appetite lost. She put down her fork and pushed away the box. She sat back and looked at Oliver. "I knew it would have come up at some point. It's probably why I didn't want to go to the hospital when I got shot, in the back of my mind I knew this is how you'd react. I haven't checked, but since the Glades fell, I'm pretty sure that Bruce put my name on a tracker in case I was ever admitted. I'm sure he didn't really need that phone call from my brother and -"

"See that!" Oliver interrupted againpushing himself away from the table, standing up, pointing at her "is what I'm talking about. Your brother - I knew existed. But you've never mentioned him. Or really anything about yourself. It has me wondering why. I know your not out to ruin the team. You are the team. But i can't deny that this" he gestured between the two of them "bothers me"

She sighed "Oliver what do you want me to say? We are friends, partners in our nightly activities. But that doesn't give any of us the right to know this kind of...stuff. I tell this thing to the guys I'm with - if it's getting serious. Maybe to a friend over a few too many glasses of wine, but really, Oliver. What did you want me to do? Give you a convention centre schematic and my woeful love life on a random Tuesday?"

Oliver sighed, turned away from her. Re-buttoned his suit and shoved his hands into his pockets. "I'm not sure what I expected from you. I never am. But we-"

The conversation was cut short as Sara barrelled in "Felicity, why aren't you answering your phone? We've got a problem."


	4. Wine, food and some research

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI - in my mind, the role of my Bruce Wayne is played by Sam Witwer - partially because his face does broody so well, and I'll need that broodiness later, and partially because if it was Christian Bale, this would be a complete PwP.
> 
> I realized that my next chapter might be a bit longer, and in a different tone, so I wanted to get this one out there.

Fight.  
Limp around.  
Sleep.  
Eat.  
Coffee.  
Work.  
Paper Cut.  
Fight.  
Limp around.  
Sleep.  
Eat.  
Coffee.  
Work.  
Paper Cut.  
Work.  
Work.  
Work.

Felicity definitely could say she was in a rut. She was repeating herself all the time. She liked the quiet life, but never liked to be in a full rut. And that's where she was. She wasn't the only one, the entire team seemed to be acting different.  
John had been acting strange recently, she wasn't 100% positive, but she was sure it had to do with Lyla.  
Roy had calmed down from his prank wars after he was forced to do a couples retreat with Thea. Six days hiking, kumbaya-ing, and trust circles which concluded with a 1 day couples spa package. He was a bit grumpy, but resigned when he found that the products that they used in his hair had bleached it, turning his hair white. He knew who was responsible, and gave up entirely in any effort to try to 'prank' Felicity any further. 

Oliver and Sara had broken things off. She wasn't quite positive on the 'why' but figured it had to do with Sara needing to start making a name for herself. Something other than 'deadly assassin', or 'the girl who was on the boat with Oliver Queen'. Oliver had turned into a grumpy bear, growling half the time, silent the rest. Someone needed some nooky, clearly.

Sara was someone Felicity was still getting to know. Sara seemed to be earnest in her attempt to find a place in the team, and to find a place in everyone's life. Felicity liked her well enough, and liked her more as the days passed. She also seemed to be a good bartender, and made a mean Smurf - a drink she made specifically for Felicity, and while she had no clue what was inside it, she nearly wished that she could have it with every meal, because it was greatness in a glass.

Bruce had started to take her out again. She only was allowing it because she still loved him, although no longer in love with him, and she could see how alone he was feeling. Alfred had gone on a three month sabbatical to visit his daughter and new-born grandson. Felicity was surprised to learn of the change in family dynamic with Alfred and his daughter. From what she understood, Alfred wasn't a big part of her childhood and although regretted it, didn't really know how to fix it. It looked like the birth of his first grandchild was giving them a good reason to do so.

Bruce was a very good friend of hers. They may not share every bit of information they have to each other. Arrow business wasn't ever going to be discussed; although she felt he had a feeling that she was up to something other than being an assistant to Oliver Queen. And for him - she knew that he'd never open up to what he was doing for the three years he went away, just before she met him. She had tried, numerous times, to get him to talk during their relationship. But that wasn't going to happen. 

He came over to her place tonight, surprising her with two bottles of her favourite red wines, take out from her favourite sushi bar (even though they didn't really do take out), and a box from her favourite bakery (even though it was a two hour drive away). 

He declared the night to be favourites, since he brought her favourite items to eat and drink, she'd be subjected to his favourite (bad) movies. Police Academy, 1 through 5.   
They had polished one of the bottles of wine, the sushi and mashed around at the delicious cake, unable to eat it because they were too full, and really couldn't stop laughing.

She sat on the right side of the three-seater couch, while he laid on the rest of it, his legs hanging over the edge of the left side, and his head in her lap. She ran her fingers through his hair. They use to do this when they were married. Sit, watch bad television or movies, she'd run her hands through his hair. Slowly run her fingers across his forehead, and start tracing down his nose and cheeks. It would either result in them moving into the bedroom or him falling asleep in her lap.

The bedroom was out of the question. For one thing, she had her unmentionables drying on a rack, with her hair dyed stained towel underneath them in her bedroom. For another, they always seemed to complicate matters when they got serious. It had happened right after their divorce became final, and once the tears were wiped away, they both realized that friends was all they should be.

But that didn't stop them from going out, drinking together, or having Bruce stay indefinitely in his condo four blocks from QC. He had bought it for her to stay in when she just moved to Starling City. She had a feeling once Alfred returned, he'd return to Gotham.

Bruce's breathing had slowed down to that familiar pace, his chest rising and falling in a manner that she knew so well. It was comforting to see him completely relaxed and asleep.

She could hear her laptop beeping, it was on her kitchen table. The notification meant that the search she was looking into had completed. She slowly moved out of her seat, grabbing the cushion that she'd use to prop her leg up and put it under his head.

Quietly, she made her way over to the kitchen table. The team had been stumped when they found out that Slade was still alive, and figured he must have been the source of the re-emergence of the Mirakuru. And while they still needed to figure out how to physically stop him, they also needed to figure out how to sap Slade's financial assistance. It was obvious that Slade couldn't be bank rolling them. They checked Moira's, Walter's, Malcolm's and heck even old defunct bank accounts that Robert Queen had, but came up empty. The money had to be coming from somewhere.

Felicity started a wider search, and she'd finally tracked down what she was looking for. She now knew who was really behind everything.

Glancing back at Bruce, she could see his legs hanging off the couch, she realized she needed to get rid of Bruce tonight and call a team meeting.


End file.
